The 11th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium (AMDRS) will take place at the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 16-17, 2009. This symposia series started in Ann Arbor in 1999 with the intention of bringing together scientists and students from the Midwest region on a yearly basis to present and discuss cutting edge DNA repair research. DNA repair is a fundamental cellular process critical to the maintenance of genome integrity and human health whose dysfunction has been linked with many inherited and acquired diseases, especially cancer. The investigators are pleased that this symposia series has been very successful and that it has shown significant growth in the last three years. One key to the success of these symposia is that the investigators have been able to keep the costs low. This has been possible because the symposia have been organized by individuals at their home institutions and that each year funding has been secured to cover some of the key expenses. In times when researchers have restricted funding, the AMDRS has always been a meeting to which principal investigators have been able to take their graduate and postdoctoral fellows for exciting interactions and for the opportunity to present their work. By once again organizing this symposium in Ann Arbor, they signal the start of a second 10-year cycle of these symposia. The three main goals of the AMDRS, to be continued at the 11th AMDRS are: (1) To provide a venue for scientists, principally from Midwestern States, to present and discuss the current research in the field of DNA damage, repair and mutagenesis, and to provide opportunities to foster scientific collaborations. (2) To provide students, postdoctoral fellows, and beginning independent investigators the opportunity to p resent their work to peers and to interact with leaders in the field. (3) To provide an exceptional value of these symposia by keeping them affordable.